Before and after: How Brian and Bridget O'Neill found their apartment last week

Brian and Bridget O’Neill found clothes scattered across the floor, a mound of electronics piled high on their bed, junk mail ripped open, a can of paint flung over the toilet and lotion smeared on all the doorknobs.

So far so poltergeist...

Most sinister of all – while nothing had been stolen, the soles of 20 pairs of shoes and boots had been removed…

Brian O’Neill told Vocativ: “Oh man, I haven’t been able to sleep very well. It was like one of those really creepy movies.”

The soles from 20 pairs of shoes and boots had been removed

The police were summoned and eventually determined an intruder had climbed into the apartment via the bedroom window. They found no fingerprints but did discover a purse belonging to a 27-year-old woman.

After the police left the couple began cleaning up the mess, at which point they heard an ominous noise coming from under the bed.

Brian said: “It sounded like a dying possum or raccoon. I had only heard wounded animals make that kind of noise before.”

Locks of blonde hair and syringes were found in the mess and the woman under the bed was found to be clutching a kitchen knife

As the moaning and scratching grew louder, the pair fled the property and summoned the police once more… who discovered a “lanky, wild-eyed woman” who had apparently spent the last two hours hiding under the bed.